Eliminations at WSOP Guarantee Top 4 $3 Million Each

Monday, November 7th, 2011 by Nadia

Five eliminations, which include two players who bounced on back-to-back hands, brought the WSOP only a single bust away from a showdown, guaranteeing each of the top four finalists $3 million at least.

Some Exciting Eliminations

Eoghan O’Dea (26), son of a poker pro from Ireland, finished at 6th place after his chip count decreased after the initial few hands. He started out in 2nd place – based on his chips – and left with $1.7 million.

Following O’Dea, Phil Collins (26), a Las Vegas pro, took on chip leader, Pius Heinz with an A-7. Heinz held pocket 9s and Collins finished at 5th place with $2.3 million. Collins started the day as 4th in chips and said that he was happy with the money he had won but not with his ranking results.

Badih Bounahra (49), a wholesale grocer from Belize, finished his run at 7th place with $1.31 million. He gambled his last chips on an A-5 and lost to Staszko. He was ousted right after Anton Makiievskyi finished at 8th place. Sam Holden preceded him at 9th place. This happened after Collins took a risk and doubled his stack through Ben Lamb.

Out of the four short stacks, three were eliminated from the No-limit Texas Hold’em tournament. The buy-in for the tournament was $10,000. The four remaining players, Ben Lamb, Martin Staszko, Matt Giannetti and Pius Heinz have each been guaranteed winnings of $3 million each at least.

Heinz Dominates the Last Round

Heinz, a poker professional who hails from Cologne in Germany, took the chip lead two and half hours into the game, pushing O’Dea out from his perch at 2nd place and putting him at a serious disadvantage chips-wise. According to Holden, Heinz came into the game with guns blazing.

Eoghan O’Dea tangled with Heinz over one hand with more than 44 million chips at stake. Heinz went all-in over O’Dea’s river bet. O’Dea had staked 8.2 million chips on the wager. He folded with an ace-high. However, Heinz won that hand with pocket queens. O’Dea said that it killed him a little to lose in that manner.

Giannetti began to quietly double his starting stack in the first four and half hours of play. He pushed his way into second place in chips just before dinner. He established himself as the only player with a stack that poses any immediate threat to Heinz’s position.

The players remaining in the game are the top rankers from the 6,865 players who entered the tournament. Each of the players staked $10,000 to enter, and must lose all their chips in order to be eliminated. To win, they must win all the chips that are in play.

More about the Tournament

This year, nine players hailing from seven countries began playing in Las Vegas, watched by a raucous audience in the casino. More fans caught their performances on TV. The atmosphere was charged, the players took their seats on the massive set while machines pumped smoke into the air and girls fired air launchers containing t-shirts into the crowd. Friends and family of the players supported their favorites with flags, wigs and chants.